k out
his watch.

"Unfortunately this is the Thursday that I work," he laughed, "and
it's past two o'clock, so good-by. I'll stop in for you tomorrow," and
with a flourish of the hand he left me.

Still dubious as to the whole matter, which had left me rather
bewildered, when I reached my shabby room I took out the envelope
which Ballard had handed me and read the curious paper that it
contained.

As I began reading this remarkable document (neatly typed and
evidently copied from the original in John Benham's own hand) I
recognized some of the marks of the Platonic philosophy and read with
immediate attention. Before I had gone very far it was quite clear to
me that the pedagogue who took upon himself the rearing of the infant
Benham, must himself be a creature of infinite wisdom and discretion.
As far as these necessary qualifications were concerned, I saw no
reason why I should refuse. The old man's obvious seriousness of
purpose interested me.

"It is my desire that my boy, Jeremiah, be taught simple religious
truths and then simple moral truths, learning thereby insensibly the
lessons of good manners and good taste. In his reading of Homer and
Hesiod the tricks and treacheries of the gods are to be banished, the
terrors of the world below to be dispelled, and the misbehavior of the
Homeric heroes are to be censured.

"If there is such a thing as original sin--and this I beg leave to
doubt, having looked into the eyes of my boy and failed to find it
there--then teaching can eradicate it, especially teaching under such
conditions as those which I now impose. The person who will be chosen
by my executors for the training of my boy will be first of all a man
of the strictest probity. He will assume this task with a grave sense
of his responsibility to me and to his Maker. If after a proper period
of time he does not discover in his own heart a sincere affection for
my child, he will be honest enough to confess the truth, and be
discharged of the obligation. For it is clear that without love, such
an experiment is foredoomed to failure. To a man such as my mind has
pictured, affection here will not be difficult, for nature has favored
Jerry with gifts of mind and body."

Everywhere in John Benham's instructions there were signs of a deep
and corroding cynicism which no amount of worldly success had been
able to dispel. Everywhere could be discovered a hatred of modern
social forms and a repugnance for the modern